Presentations do not always involve numbers and finances. But when they do, you have to be able to present your data in such a way that your audience won’t get bored or overwhelmed. Here are five awesome tips form Dave Paradi on how you can make this happen:

Step 1: What is the point?

Know what your ultimate message is so you’ll be able to tell yours story clearly.

Step 2: What numbers tell the story?

I’m sure there are so many numbers and figures you want to share to your audience. But since you are already clear about the story you want to tell, choose the best numbers that will support your message.

Step 3: How can you use these numbers to tell the story?

Be more visual when presenting your numbers. You can do this by showing column graphs, summary tables, pie charts, etc. Be creative and don’t just copy paste all the numbers on your slides.

Step 4: Sketch the visual

To be able to visualize how you want to present your data is always important. So try to do a sketch before you make a slide using PowerPoint. This also helps save you a lot more time.

Step 5: Determine what backup you may need

It’s good to anticipate what questions your audience may ask. But you don’t have to show all possible answers just yet. Know which questions would likely get asked and then just make a link or a hidden slide which you can access later to show the possible answers.

In order to be an effective presenter, sometimes, you need not be on stage or in front of a live audience. A time comes in a presenter’s life when he or she just needs to send his presentation or PowerPoint file to his client for one reason or another without ever having to deliver the presentation himself. When this happens, the presenter has to make sure that his key message is delivered effectively via the slides and that it will capture the interest of his client in order to eventually make that sale. So how does one do this? Below are seven tips on how to make your stand-alone presentations more effective:Tip #1: Only include the essentials